Archive for March, 2012

Jon Connor’s 2nd leak from “The People’s Rapper” LP has him paying homage by re-creating one of Eminem’s best & most important piece of work. Connor flips it well, focusing on radio-Rap & his struggles with making relevant music.

As new details surface in the Trayvon Martin case, I can’t help but draw similarities to The Wire episode (season 3 e.9) when Prez guns down a black cop in plain clothes, mistaking him for the perp he was chasing through the dark streets of Baltimore. Of course we still don’t know all the details of Trayvon’s case, and The Wire is actually only a fictitious television show, but the underlying issue remains the same. Americans first instinct when they see a black man in a hoodie is fear and suspicion. Now, I don’t know George Zimmerman, but after watching the entire collection of The Wire three times now, I do know Roland Pryzbylewski. Prez was not a racist man, just a man whose first instincts under pressure, when coming across a black man in a hoodie, was to shoot. It may turn out George Zimmerman wasn’t racist either, but just found himself in a similar predicament.

By no means am I trying to let Zimmerman off the hook. Much different than the situation in The Wire, Zimmerman actually created the conflict, which in turn resulted in the lost life of a young man. I don’t know if some people really understand what the real issue is here. And honestly, when I say people I mean white people. Not all white people, but the ones who have made a point of downplaying the racial aspect of this conflict. I’m talking those who have attempted to draw attention away from the actual event and onto the actions of black leaders who may or may not be attaining some sort of personal gain from the publicity. Or those who have contributed, through facebook or word of mouth, in an attempt to paint Trayvon Martin as a thug, whom by which case I can only assume they believe deserved to die?

First of all, I don’t think the media, or any black leaders (except maybe the new black panthers whom nobody is listening to anyway) are turning this into a black vs white issue. The only people who I see turning this into black vs white are those white people trying so desperately to either prove that race had nothing to do with it, or that Trayvon Martin was a thug. And the most ironically infuriating thing about that attempt, by the way, is that they are using PICTURES of him either with a gold grill, throwing up a middle finger, or some other pointless gesture to do so. It’s no wonder these people don’t realize the issue when they are literally STILL trying to racially profile him! Remember, this whole conflict occurred because he was mistakenly assumed to be a criminal, or suspicious, simply because he was black and wearing a hoodie. When in fact, he was just a kid walking home from the convenient store with a bag of skittles.
The real problem here, which I’ve alluded to multiple times already, is racial profiling and Americans/white people’s racial paranoia. It’s not just a black thing either, I hear/see it regarding Arabs and Hispanics as well. And it comes from a deep seeded attitude we have ingrained in our society from hundreds of years of blatant racism and prejudice.

Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book called “Blink.” The premise of the book is the decisions, somewhat subconsciously, we make in the blink of an eye. In his book he highlights the notion of implicit bias, and something called the Implicit Association Test, or IAT. To summarize briefly, the test which is performed on a computer has black and white faces appear, along with words associated with good and bad feelings (joy, pleasure vs sad, failure). It asks that you quickly press either the I (left) or E (right) key to categorize them correctly under the column listed Good/Bad or Black/White. It mixes them up though, so sometimes Black and Bad are categorized together on the left side, while White and Good are on the left, and then Black and Good are on the right, while White and Bad are on the left. You get it? (check it out here: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/index.jsp) What it measures is the time it takes for you to click the I or E key to appropriately place the face/feeling under the correct category it’s associated with. Now, Malcolm Gladwell is of mixed decent, both English and Jamaican. Even he, like myself, was found to have a moderate favor towards whites over blacks. I for one was surprised with my results as I am extremely accepting of all races, and even embrace/favor what some might consider typical “black culture” more so than, well, typical “white culture”. Malcolm Gladwell is half black himself, so his results were obviously surprising as well.

What does this say? Well it says while there may not be AS much blatantly direct acts of racism (obviously there still is, as just this year white teens went searching for a “nigger” and remorselessly killed him by running him over in a pick up truck) we all have an implicit bias that we may or may not realize when it comes to race relations that do have an astounding effect on many aspects of American culture, politics, and overall attitudes. How do we fix it? Well Obama was right when he said we can start by “doing some soul searching.” Hopefully this will lead us all to realize/admit that race DOES matter, and that instead focusing our efforts in trying to prove our own race was not in the wrong, we should be coming together to figure out how to make things right. How bout we start by making sure the police actually do an honest job and thoroughly investigate both sides, in which case Zimmerman should, at the very least, be brought into custody immediately. Then we can get rid of this insane “stand your ground” law that seemingly gives a free pass to every gun-loving nut-job out there who decides they want to murder someone because they felt threatened. That is all I have to say….for now.

Oooooh Weee! I’m loving this shit right here. If you’re like me, maybe your taste in hip hop music has gotten slightly more sophisticated since high school. What once got me hype as hell (Archie and J Kwon anyone?) no longer strikes that same chord. Maybe I’m just more lame tame. But in any event, the overemphasized bass and snare is getting way too old. But the wordplay still hits harder than ever, especially since I listen to more lyrical shit these days. And when a mixtape like this comes along that emphasizes that slick wordplay from one of the greatest ever? You know I gotta put my people on.
Alongside Mick Boogie, Terry Urban is the best to put together mash-up mixtapes. Just like previous masterpieces (RE-Living Thing ft Peter Bjorn & John , 1988 ft Adele and Viva La Hova ft Jay-Z & Coldplay) Terry employs some of the most innovative up and coming producers to chop up the beautiful sounds of Lana Del Ray as the backdrop to the impeccable lyricism from an all time great. Check out my favorite joints off this amazing Biggie/Lana combo.

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